If you have a Samsung Galaxy S8 or S8+, you understand just how great your phone is. There are very few things to knock the latest Samsung smartphone for, in fact I can’t think of any besides its price tag. One feature that many tech gurus can’t seem to understand is Bixby, Samsung’s new smart assistant. Bixby is a late comer to the voice assistant game, however Samsung is not. Bixby replaces Samsung’s first attempt at a voice assistant, S-Voice, which was released before Alexa, Cortana and even Google Now (now the Google Assistant). There’s an argument to make that Samsung was first (among Android devices since Siri came out in 2011), and Google was late to the game. So all those tech gurus who hate on the Bixby smart assistant can thank Samsung for pushing voice development and give Bixby a fair shot.
I’ve been using Bixby for several days now and have high hopes for it. Sure it’s not perfect, but can you name one smart assistant that is?
You should give the new Bixby assistant a fair shot too. Set aside five minutes out of your day and find a quiet location. Then follow these simple instructions:
How to set up the Bixby assistant on your Samsung Galaxy S8 or S8+
- Make sure your phone’s software is up to date. Go to Settings and click Software update.
- If your software is up to date, simply click on the Bixby button below the volume rocker. You can also slide to the right from your home screen. The device will prompt you to set up Bixby’s voice capabilities.
- Click Next
- Select the language of your choice. Right now there is only Korean and English available.
- Follow the instructions to utilize the features of Bixby and then touch NEXT, or touch SKIP, to set up Bixby features later.
- If you’re in a quiet spot, follow the prompts to set up Bixby.
- Once completed you can have Bixby wake your phone up by turning on Voice wake up in Settings.
Here’s a short list of some of my favorite Bixby commands. To activate it, simply say “Hi Bixby” or hold the Bixby button down and speak until your command or question is completed.
- Open camera and take a picture
- What time is it?
- How many steps have I taken today? (if S health is set up)
- What’s the weather?
- Take a screenshot
- Set alarm
- Set alarm at “fill in the blank”
- Remind me to “fill in the blank”
- Set timer
You can find a more complete list of commands at Phandroid.com.
The Samsung shill returns! Haha just kidding, good post!